India disaster

BOMBAY, India — India's financial capital was paralyzed today by the strongest rains ever recorded in Indian history, with torrential downpours — 37 inches in one day — marooning drivers, forcing students to sleep at school and snapping communication lines. At least 200 people died.

At its worst, the rainfall descended in what looked like a solid wall of water, overwhelming Bombay, a crowded city long accustomed to monsoon rains.

Yeah it is quite terrible and the authorities are absolutely clueless as to how to deal with the problem. There was so much rain in the last week that people died sitting in their cars when they were on the roads stuck up in traffic jams. Their cars were flooded with water and the guys could not come out coz the central locking and power windows failed. Very sad.

The rain was horribly terrible. The water levels rose up to 10 feet in some areas. It entered stores, ruined supply godowns, killed over 900 people, broke down vehicles (including trains, buses and airplanes), caused an airplane runway accident that *could* have been fatal, and much more.

The water also entered residential flats and destroyed many people's homes. Visibility was poor, so anyone going out alone would best forget all hopes of surviving. Also, debris flowing under the surface of the water would cause people to lose their balance (there was no road anymore, the water had covered it all) and fall.

Helicopters and army guards were called to drop food packs for the people. Several small whirlpools were spotted.

As consequences, electrical supply, phone and cable lines has been cut in some flooded areas, multiplexes had been shut down, scientific research labs were damaged, water supply has been cut short due to seepage of dirty water into water tanks. Also, over 12,000 cattle have died, and even sewer water was seeping onto the surface - therefore there is a high risk of an epidemic.

In order to cover the losses, shopkeepers have raised the price of all perishable food products to sky-high rates.

People who set out to work on Tuesday returned home much later, rangine from late night to 2 days later. Many people are also missing.

I myself was coming home from extra classes on Tuesday. At that time, the rain had just started, but the water level was already up to 2 feet high (the maximum in our area was 5 feet). People were holding on to each other in order to keep their balance over the strong water current, but I was alone. I had to grab on to a lamp post and brave the strong current myself. I reached my home after 45 minutes of struggling hard (Normally it would have only taken me 10 minutes).

My brother had to walk a distance of 10km to reach home (he was also coming from extra classes). The water level in that area was about 4feet 11 inches at that time. It was night, and a huge group of students (which included my brother), held on to each other, struggling in the rain.

The next day, I braved the rain again and went to school, only to find out that there was no school (our school board held us at the school for 15 minutes and then announced that there was no school). After that, my teacher yelled at me and some others for trying to come to school that day.

This rain is something I will remember for a long time to come. Relief has not been fully provided, nor has the damages been compensated in any way (not for the most part anyway).

I am in New Delhi which is about 900 miles from Mumbai. But I have friends over there who have had some horrible expereinces over the last few days. The official death toll is close to 1000 but I am sure many more have lost their lives just becasuse the so called "disaster management system" collapsed. The drains were completley choked and there was no way water could recede. The whole city came to a stand still and many parts of the city are still paralyzed.

Rains have struck Bombay again from Sunday night onwards. Schools and colleges have been closed on Monday and Tuesday, and a heavy thundershower with high tide has been predicted to happen within the next 48 hours. Offices have been hit badly, with attendance rates as low as 30%. Land and sea transports were again disrupted today, with lots of trains being cancelled and only a few buses running. Roads continue to be flooded, and the media strongly advises citizens to stay in their homes as far as possible.

I am safe, for the time being, as the rains are not so heavy yet. I'll bring updates on this later.